1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image processing and more specifically to image data processing apparatuses, boundary detection devices, boundary detection methods, and computer-readable storage media for detecting boundaries in an image.
2. Description of Related Art
A liquid ejection apparatus that ejects ink onto a recording medium, in accordance with input image data, that forms an image is known. The liquid ejection apparatus includes an image data processing apparatus. The image data processing apparatus detects a contour line of the image formed on the recording medium (i.e., a boundary of the image) and reduces the size of a droplet of the ejected ink when the boundary is formed. As a result, blurring at the boundary is avoided and a contour of the image is sharpened.
A liquid ejection apparatus that prints an image in an ink saving mode also is known. The ink saving mode is a mode of printing an entire image at a uniformly reduced density level that typically reduces an amount of ink used during the printing process.
The image printed in the ink saving mode has a reduced color intensity compared to an image printed in an ordinary mode. Further, the amount of ink used during printing in the ink saving mode is expected to be less than the amount of ink used during printing in the ordinary mode. For example, when an image, such as a landscape photograph, is printed in the ink saving mode, the amount of ink used during printing typically is reduced in comparison with the amount of ink that would be used during printing of the landscape photograph in the ordinary mode.
Generally, a setting of how far the density level is to be reduced is set when setting the ink saving mode. When a reduced density level is selected, the image is printed with reduced color intensity. Typically, the amount of ink used also is reduced.